Episode Recap Tyler now works at Dreamworks animation but he originally received his degree in graphic design. He shares his journey to Dreamworks as well as provides tips for aspiring animators on what they should include in their demo reel.

How did you choose the Design School you went to? Like many of us, Tyler couldn’t afford a full 4 years a design school. So, he started out at a junior college called Palomar College and graduated with his Associates in Graphic Design. Then he transferred to Platt College where he received his Bachelors in Mixed Media.

After Platt, Tyler was experimenting online to develop the animation skills he learned while at Platt.

After College Randomly, Tyler was asked to move to the Czech Republic to work on an animation. After the film lost funding and Tyler was placed in a new company as a compositor, he was ready to move on.

He asked himself, “What do I really want to do with my life?”

Back to Square One That’s when he decided to give character animation a shot. He dedicated A LOT of time to learning this new skill. He explains this was very frustrating after having already finished his education and feeling back at “square one”.

He joined the 11 Second Club to improve his animation techniques.

Then he discovered Animation Mentor, already feeling done with school, he decided taking a few classes on this platform would help his networking opportunities and give him invaluable feedback on his demo reel.

Winning the Career Lottery One year after perfecting his demo reel, one of Tyler’s animation mentors referred him for a job at Blue Sky studio.

What A Demo Reel Needs * The best clips you have * Animate an acting shot * Good body mechanics * Dialogue from movie, without copying the acting * Be original, don’t copy previous animations * Specialize, don’t have too much variety

When applying for an animation job, especially in gaming, it’s better to work faster to show you can work at production speed.

The Dream Call After working at Blue Sky and Sony Games he applied for Dreamworks and got a call to work on How to Train Your Dragon.

Is It Easy to Get Labelled For A Certain Skill? Yes, you can start to becoming known as the drama guy or the comedy guy.

Where Do Graphic Design and Animation Overlap? Similar concepts that relate between the two subjects are:

• Composition
• Silhouettes
• Appeal
• Color
• Direction of the eye

What To Do If You Feel Like You Studied the “Wrong” Subject Do something. You don’t have to do, follow your muse. Tyler started with illustration, then graphic design, the computer motion graphics, then finally found his true love of character animation.

“[Finding the right career for you] is a discovery process. If you don’t know what to do, do something that you think would be fun and go from there.”

For Students Think Animation Could Be Your Thing? * Start with the 12 principles of animation * Visit AnimationTipsandTricks.com * Read The Illusion of Life * Read The Animator’s Survival Kit

What Programs Does the Industry Use? Maya

How Long Does Your Demo Reel Have to Be? At least 30 seconds

Do You Need to Go to A Big Art School to Get A Job in the Industry? No, it’s based off of your demo reel. Some, but very few, animators are self-taught. For instance, Victor Navone.